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October 06, 2007

Vote No...

I will support the Tribal Council Accountability Program if it comes to a vote, but I will not support the amendments that I received in the mail from the Secretarial Election Board. I will not support an ethics committee. Are we going to pay a committee to spy on our tribal members?

I have observed tribal politics on our reservation for a long time and this committee could turn into a witch hunt on any tribal member they don't like? Who would the committee members be? Would they be people who have no faults of their own? Is our tribe going to be like the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Mussolini’s Italy and Pinochet’s Chile? Would our own Tribal members turn on one another if they held a grudge for something real or imagined?

I encourage every tribal member to fill out the form and when they get the ballot to vote no on every one of these amendments…!

I am a tribal member. I or anyone I know never was asked for our input into these amendments, now they are being forced down on our throats.

I too will support the tribal council accountablity program, but not these amendments, the way our people are now, how are we going to find anybody that is fair to our tribal members. Watch this Wednesday when we elect our new chairperson, see how many people are resentful and how hateful they will be on who gets elected.

lets see you need 50% plus one vote to be elected as council. you need 5 out of 6 votes from ethics committee to act. 6 out of 6 council(chair cant vote) to approve a judge. but the quorum for general council remains at 65 even tho several hundred members are bribed each meeting to attend. that means that 33 votes in general council can pass anything. it does pay to read angie.

From the comments I have read, everybody thinks the amendments are disgusting.
The only program that would have worked is the Tribal Accountability Program and of course, that's the one the TC refused to put on the agenda. That is the only program everyone would have gotten behind. But sense the TC likes us to be divided they offer these amendments which only seek to create more division. Shame on them.
I hope we have a good discussion at the General Council Meeting on the 20th.
I for one will be there. And yes its true, the poor soul who wins the chair better be prepared for the hatefulness that the other commenter mentioned.
Like someone else said before, more bad medicine.

We are going to get worse in our tribal government if we pass these crazy amendments - more expense (can't raise percap and expect to continue to spend crazy), and more witchhunts. There is no corruption happening in the tribal structure other than not going to work 75% of the time. Amendments can't make people go to work. Badger, Mamie an their latest pal Tracy, quiters all, will burn who ever is the chair at the stake. Just watch if you don't believe me. Vote out those lazy council people and commissioners. We know who they are. Oh, did I leave out their secretarys too. They get paid as much as the council and are accountable to no one. They don't go to work either and take their kids to work everyday, right rey?

I read the amendments and they are crazy. Whoever put them together must really want to bring our tribe down. Can you imagine, like the other writers said having Badger and that rupnicki woman fabricating stories on people for beating her in the last election or who signed a petition against her. Or didn't look right at her daughter who controls the judges and the court. It would never end. Beware of these things, we're in bad enough political shape the way it is. Remember what I said if you vote yes.

I agree with most of these comments. It would play out something like this: If you work for the tribe, a co-worker has a grudge against you, they file a complaint against you, you go up in front of the ethics committee, and those committee members don't like your FAMILY, you are going to be SCREWED.

As a person that has been on the Constitution committee from day one (I have missed one meeting in eight years), I intend to put some facts into the cyber world in regard to the comments posted on "Vote No".

From the beginning, comments have been taken from any member of the community that wanted to write out their suggestion(s) and sign their name. Their suggestions have been folded into the work of the committee. They have been welcome to oversee their suggestion from beginning to end. The meetings have always and continue to be open to enrolled members. Educational meetings and workshops have been published and put on free of charge for the benefit of members. You will not find one person that has been turned away or treated badly by the Constitution committee with the exception of one attorney, who is not a tribal member.

yes, i know who you are, but won't tell the rest of our readers since you obviously don't want to, it does pay to read.

Amendment A will not ensure run-off elections everytime, but more support for our elected officials. Who appreciates our current system of having so many candidates (5 or more) create an election that can be manipulated? I am not suggesting that any of them have. I don't think our current election procedure is good enough.

The court is the same court that Mamie dealt with. It was not independent then and it is not now, although I don't endorse the comments that have been made here about it.

I would like to highlight this opinion - if you don't like one thing in an amendment, vote no. If you can find an amendment that you do like, completely, vote yes.

We do need to live with whatever decision we make here. These amendments are not personal for me. I would like to see what is best for the Nation be the eventual outcome. The amendments are an effort by General Council to better our form of government. It's a long, slow process for lay people like me. The process is open to any and all interested, enrolled members. Like Eddie Joe said "It's easy to sit back and complain, but if you can do the job..." I want better and encourage anyone that cares to get involved and try to help in any way they can.

As for the Ethics Amendment, it applies to Elected Officials. NOT employees, tribal members... As I said before, if there is anything you don't like in an amendment vote no. I just hope folks take the time to understand what is in them.

I know they are wordy. That just comes with this kind of territory. I think Thomas Wabnum wrote a good piece here to give people a leg up on understanding most of them, with Amendment A being an exception to that. I do not agree with Thomas on Amendment A. As I stated before, I am open to any questions. I appreciate what has been posted here. Num has been to more than one of the meetings. I know she, for one, has a genuine interest.